


Dark Labyrinth

by idrilhadhafang



Series: Miscellaneous TLJ AUs [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, M/M, past Poe Dameron/Ben Solo - Freeform, prisoner kylo ren, promise of redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 14:27:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12134439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: Poe visits Kylo Ren in prison.





	Dark Labyrinth

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Revenge
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

 

There's something about entering the prison cells that already gives Poe the creeps. Even heading in here feels like he's heading into a maze or something of that nature. Some sort of dark labyrinth where the man who was and still is his husband is imprisoned.

There are other prisoners that the Resistance has captured, one of them (not Kylo Ren) currently ranting about how they won't get away with this. "You brutes! You loathsome scum! You can't think that you can get away with this."

Poe walks past that man, past the other cells, until he finds the cell at the very end. He freezes for a moment, takes in the sight before him. Kylo Ren has his mask off, and his hair hangs around his face limply. There's something about him that seems defiant, yet vulnerable, and the scar that Rey gave him gleams on his face in that moment.

The scar's just one testament of many to how much they've been damaged.

One of the guards steps aside. "If you want to kill him," he says, "I won't stop you. Of course, you'll have to get in line."

Poe's hand trembles. Revenge is tempting. But he doubts he'll be able to.

He doesn't know why he's here, actually. To gloat? To get answers? To get revenge? Some would argue that killing Kylo Ren would be a service to the galaxy, and yet...

And yet Poe must be overwhelmingly selfish, because he doubts he'll even be able to.

Getting closer, he can see the look in Ren's -- in Ben's -- eyes. Despite the Force dampening shackles around his wrists -- and he wonders what was going through General Organa's head when she had them put on. Did she regret it? -- and his current unkempt appearance, Ren looks proud, defiant. Beautiful. Even in a cage, he looks beautiful.

They pause. Poe thinks back to their meeting on Tuanul, when he had no idea who Kylo Ren was, and what he said. So who talks first? You talk first, I talk first?

Kylo Ren looks at him, directly at him, his eyes cold and dark and more than that, like the light's gone out of them. Finally, he speaks. "Poe." It's the first time he's said his name out loud in six years. Poe can still remember the darkness of the interrogation room, how Ren was so detached.

Poe supposes that he has to give Kylo Ren credit -- up until he entered Poe's mind, Poe had no idea who he really was.

"Hello, Ben." Poe says after a while. He knows that his voice must sound like sandpaper. Parched, rough.

A barely visible flinch from Kylo Ren. "That is not my name. Ben Solo is dead, and he deserves to be."

That hurts. That hurts a lot. "He doesn't."

"Of course you would say that," Kylo Ren says, so calmly. "He would have crawled on his hands and knees for you, even as you denied him. He would have given you the stars, if he could. You. A mere pilot." A beat. "What did he see in you? Or was he just pathetically desperate for any scrap of affection even if it was given by someone who withheld as often as he gave?"

He even sounds like Snoke, Poe thinks. And that knowledge is frightening to consider. "Ben," he says, "Is that really all you thought of me? All you thought I was?"

"It took me a while to see that," Kylo says. "But I see it now."

"I know we had our fights, but that doesn't give you license to do what you did."

"That wasn't why."

"Then why?"

"I had to find the map."

"And then what?" Poe says. "What would you have done with it?"

Kylo actually looks like he didn't even consider that answer. That "what next?" That what-if. There was no planning ahead, not really, not truly. There was no "after".

"Exactly," Poe says.

***

He visits Kylo's cell the next day. He doesn't know what makes him go back, but he navigates past the thrall of prisoners, until he gets to Kylo's cell again. He gets there, where Kylo's currently neglecting the plate of food that the guard's put next to him. After a long while, Kylo takes the plate and smashes it against the wall.

Poe winces.

"You clean that up," the guard says.

"I'd rather starve," Kylo says coldly, "Than eat any food that your Resistance gives me."

"Rather be a Resistance member than a murderer like you. Now clean it -- "

"You don't have to do that," Poe says.

The guard turns to look at him. "So that's who you are? You're not just Ren's whore, you're his defender too?"

Poe wants to punch him so badly. His fist is shaking at his side. Instead he says, "You're wrong about me."

It's speaking to Ren that he says, "You broke into my mind. I am not your whore, no matter what that guard said."

"Of course not," Ren says.

And Poe has to admit that he's flabbergasted by what Ren has said. Maybe there's hope for him after all.

***

The guard gets reassigned, replaced with a new one, much to Poe's relief. When he goes down to see Ren for a third time, he has at least a crack of light in this uneasy landscape that is Poe's prison visits. Three words. Of course not. It likely means nothing, but even so...

He asks how Ren is this time. Even offers food from the kitchens.

"I didn't poison it," he says, with a genuine smile.

"That," says Ren, "Is not what I'm worried about."

Poe leaves it by Ren's side then, and he has a feeling that at least they're starting to get through to each other.

***  
It's the fourth visit that Poe asks why, and it's there that Ren tells him the truth. Tells him everything, actually. Tells him about Yana -- about Snoke. Tells him about realizing his destiny, and Poe doesn't believe it.

"You had me," he says. "I could have helped you."

Ren -- Ben -- looks thoughtful. Then, "I did have you." And Poe swears that his face softens even as he says it. There's still a long set of steps on their journey, but Poe feels they've come pretty far.

Is it possible to save him? Maybe Poe can try.

Maybe...

Maybe...

 

 

 

 


End file.
